nice idea...but without ovens it might prove to be a little difficult. they may have to resort to that, though, to keep up competition [if necessary] with Song. but i dont think anyone can compete with the aroma, and taste, of the freshly cooked chocolate chip cookies Midwest Express has to offer.

Futterman: Your right about YX, nothing can beat their freshly baked on bored cookies, they are delicious. And it doesn't hurt to feel like your sitting in first class but paying coach prices. Best airline in the air today, if you ever get a chance to fly them, do it, you wont regret it.

Tom

(sorry, I know that my post was a shameless promotion but I just love YX and have to put out good word about them every opportunity I get)

They seem to be doing quite well with out food. And I am sure the airport snack bar's would not like the idea. I am quite happy getting a Big Mac meal to go before I board the plane. I love the looks I get when I offer to share my fries after I just woofed down my burger.

skiordie->why would airport snack bars suffer if jetBlue offered inflight meals, if most other airlines offer food on board? that wouldnt make a difference.

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jetblue keeps their ticket prices down by eliminating certain services. the lack of inflight meals probably compensates for the IFE that many people enjoy, as well as those blue corn chips that can only come custom made lol. one fleet type [for now, atleast] is also bound to keep the prices at somewhat of an equilibrium. does southwest serve meals? if not, i rest my case.

song, on the other hand, not being a true LLC [being a subsidary of DAL instead], can probably afford to have the fairly advanced IFE in addition to purchasable food.
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not too sure if that makes any sense, or if its even right if it does...

That's a good point that the incremental cost for Song to offer food would quite a bite lower than if jetblue or Southwest did.

On the snack bar idea. How much money/food would a plane load of passengers require. Passengers need to eat, the airlines can purchase the food for us our we can purchase it ourselves. After flying both jetblue and southwest you notice that the snack bars are quite busy after the passengers get off the plane. Just like the airport terminal operators know how much money passengers will or can spend when their flight is delayed, they know how much food a plane load of passengers need.

its all included in the price. as i said before, you pay cheaper fares to get where you want to go, and you get there with a fatter wallet. in return, you are saving the airline money, and the cycle goes on and on and on and on.

regardless of wheather we have food served on board, sold on board, or lackthereof on the plane and we fend for ourselves on the ground, everybody is paying something. song provides substantial portions for sale on their planes [but delta can afford it and keep the song fares down, so it doesnt count]. jetBlue and Southwest cant, so you suffer as a result--either food and higher fares, or lower fares with no nutritional value.

the whole $ thing is primarily psychological. it doesnt seem as if youre paying the same amount if you spread it out [as opposed to all at once]. makes people happier, spend more, and the world goes 'round giving us 365 days to fly, then we do it all over again.

-No oven necessary, these food items are cold - and keep across flights - not sure how long they can keep them.

-The costs that we are seeing ($7 breakfast, $10 lunch/dinner) - I think are high for the customer. But not bad for me if I get a receipt for biz travel. I think the customer will say "I guess it was worth that price" But what is best is that the airlines (Should) be able to break even on this service and price or maybe squeak a margin.

-This makes more work for the cabin crew. One trip down the aisle(s) for beverages, now another for food sales or a consolidated trip (takes longer). Demanding more of the cabin crew is a consideration - if they have to do more work, they should be commensurately compensated.

-Wait and see. Those who are doing it traditional and LCC's (even song - the virtual LCC) will let the industry know if it works. I must say, however, I have never flown on song, but the menu online @ flysong.com looks appealing!

It raises your costs across the board when you start to offer food? And if you are already known for serving quality snacks and the formula works well for you then why shake up the business model. Just because Song is selling food that is no reason to do it. I myself are surprised that Song is selling food as they have copied JetBlue so much to create Song, I guess that is there only original idea that they did have.

Most, if not all European LCCs have always sold food - and what's more, it's an extra source of income, not cost (because the food & beverage is so damned expensive....)

Europe's two largest & most profitable airlines do this (FR & EZY).
Selling such items is not considered "extra work", but simply part of the FA's normal course of duties.

As for pay, I'll allow you to make your minds up:

Ryanair: £1400/month
Easyjet: £1000/month

Don't know whether you'd consider that well-paid or not; in Britain, it is generally acknowledged that cabin crew/FAs get paid very little anyway, whatever the airline. You certainly don't do this for the money!

Please understand, I'm not trying to be stubborn, but I don't understand the business decision if the price they're asking pax to pay for food isn't covering the costs. I thought I'd read somewhere that the average cost to feed a passenger on a flight was very small(??)...

Heck GSPSPOT - most of the airfares don't cover the cost to fly the seat. Jetblue's margins are pretty thin already - tossing in food service (acquisition, storage, handling, disposal of unused food) could push the costs over the line and turn a profit into a loss. Profits in airlines are measured in pennies per passenger mile flown. "Food" has a limited shelf life. Every passenger who declines to buy the food leaves the airline with food that most likely will get thrown away. Chips, peanuts and pretzels can last considerably longer. Even "cold" sandwiches would require some sort of refrigeration while on the plane (if they had meat or fish in them). As to business decisions at airlines, a lot of business decisions seemed to be based on "they are doing it, so should we"...whether it's a good practice or a bad practice.

I would not add food onboard. I would allow them to buy something in the gate area set up by the airline, or even let them pick something for free from a food area set up by Jetblue. They should not think that they need to even do anything. When they started up, they had long haul flights within 6 months. Enough people would have complained by now, and they would have responded with something for their customers. There obviously is not enough consumer pressure on them to warrant achange.

I think like most companies JetBlue continually reavaluates everything it does and does not do in the market place, and just because another airline is offering food for sale is not going to make them run and join the parade. JetBlue is not making the mistakes the majors had/are making, by trying to be all things to all people.

I just can't stand the idea that air travel is becoming more & more just a bus ride in the sky. I know it's more than that behind the scenes, but it seems there's nothing "special" about travellling this way any more, unless you're a plane nut like most of us. It's just so sad...